(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor array panel.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, flat panel display devices have gained popularity in the market, and their sales are growing quickly. One of the appealing characteristics of a flat panel display is its thinness. Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) are among some of the widely used flat panel displays.
A display device typically includes a display panel having pixels arranged in a matrix. Each pixel includes a pixel electrode, a common electrode, and a thin film transistor as a switching element connected to the pixel electrode. The thin film transistor is connected to a gate line transmitting a gate signal generated by the gate driver and a data line transmitting a data signal generated by a data driver, and the thin film transistor controls the data signal transmitted to the pixel electrode according to the gate signal. Each pixel of the display device represents one of primary colors such as red, green, and blue, and a color filter or an emission layer emitting a unique color is positioned at the region corresponding to each pixel.
The liquid crystal display applies the voltages to the pixel electrode and the common electrode to generate an electric field to the liquid crystal layer, and in order to prevent image deterioration due to long-time application of a unidirectional electric field, etc., polarity of the data voltages with respect to the common voltage is reversed every frame, every row, or every pixel.
The gate driver and the data driver of the display device generally include a plurality of driver ICs, and the cost of the data driver ICs is higher than that of the gate driving circuit chips. Hence, many designs require a smaller number of data driver ICs for cost-effectiveness. When reducing the number of data driving ICs, however, uniformity gets compromised in the structure and position of the thin film transistors, sometimes causing deteriorations such as vertical lines to be displayed under inversion driving.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.